Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Waiting on Wednesday {39}: The Secret Language of Stones by M.J. Rose

“Waiting
On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine,
that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Okay,
so it was the lovely cover that caught my attention. Then I discovered that
this was by M.J. Rose and knew that it had to go immediately on my to be read
list. And I really enjoy reading about jewelers, which seems to be popping up a
bit lately.

Title: The Secret Language of Stones

Author: M. J. Rose

Publisher: Atria

Release Date: July 19, 2016

As
World War I rages and the Romanov dynasty reaches its sudden, brutal end, a
young jewelry maker discovers love, passion, and her own healing powers in this
rich and romantic ghost story, the perfect follow-up to M.J. Rose’s
“brilliantly crafted” (Providence Journal) novel The Witch of Painted Sorrows.

Nestled
within Paris’s historic Palais Royal is a jewelry store unlike any other. La
Fantasie Russie is owned by Pavel Orloff, protégé to the famous Faberge, and is
known by the city’s fashion elite as the place to find the rarest of gemstones
and the most unique designs. But war has transformed Paris from a city of style
and romance to a place of fear and mourning. In the summer of 1918, places
where lovers used to walk, widows now wander alone.

So
it is from La Fantasie Russie’s workshop that young, ambitious Opaline Duplessi
now spends her time making trench watches for soldiers at the front, as well as
mourning jewelry for the mothers, wives, and lovers of those who have fallen.
People say that Opaline’s creations are magical. But magic is a word Opaline
would rather not use. The concept is too closely associated with her mother
Sandrine, who practices the dark arts passed down from their ancestor La Lune,
one of sixteenth century Paris’s most famous courtesans.

But
Opaline does have a rare gift even she can’t deny, a form of lithomancy that
allows her to translate the energy emanating from stones. Certain gemstones,
combined with a personal item, such as a lock of hair, enable her to receive
messages from beyond the grave. In her mind, she is no mystic, but merely a
messenger, giving voice to soldiers who died before they were able to properly
express themselves to loved ones. Until one day, one of these fallen soldiers
communicates a message—directly to her.

So begins a dangerous
journey that will take Opaline into the darkest corners of wartime Paris and
across the English Channel, where the exiled Romanov dowager empress is waiting
to discover the fate of her family.